BSNL 3G Speed Test and Review

It feels great to move to a 3G network after using GPRS as the data speed enhancement is noteworthy. Currently the state owned players BSNL and MTNL are providing 3G services in India.The 3G spectrum auctions are going on and soon we will have a lot of players

Here is a quick recap of my experiences with BSNL 3G in my area.As I live in a village,it took a long time to get 3G in my area while friends living in city areas are enjoying it from a long time.

Speed Test on Mobile

To test the speed of my 3G network, i used the site dslreports.com and mobilespeedtest.com.These sites download and upload some data from/to your mobile and gives you the speed based on time taken.Here are some of the screenshots of the speed test.

Although I got a speed of 920kbps once but I don’t have screenshot of that.Here you can see a speed test snap of 821kbps.

As you can see from the screenshots-even after repeated attempts over 3 months,I was not able to touch the magical speed of 1mbps on mobile.However I got speeds above 1mbps while browsing on computer.

I tested the BSNL 3G speed using both sites mentioned above.

MobileSpeedTest.com shows the results in a graphical manner where you can compare the speed with DSL,broadband etc.

Browsing Internet directly on mobile

I am using BSNL broadband at home as my primary internet connection and having this 3G connection from last 3 months.During these three months I have used 3G a lot.I have seen a lot of speed variations.As you know the speed depends on many factors-one being the distance from the tower.The connection once established is consistent i.e. it does not break up but speed varied in my tests.

From the screenshots posted above,you can say that the browsing speed is good enough to get a broadband experience.Normal web browsing/ email was fast.Even playing videos on YouTube is a pleasant experience.The videos I watched were delivered fast enough and it played without hiccups ie. without stopping for buffering.

Browsing on computer using mobile as a modem.

I connect my Nokia 5800 xPressMusic to my computer and use the inbuilt modem to surf over 3G connection.SpeedTest.net is a great site for testing speed of your internet connection.Here are some of the screenshots I have taken during testing of BSNL 3G speed.

However these are the top speeds I have got,but normally the speed is below than that shown above.You can compare the above to my BSNL broadband speed shown below-

What’s more?

I am happy to make a shift from GPRS usage to 3G as the speed enhancement is great.But the speeds shown above still do not compare well to speed one can get in western countries.

PC world has conducted a speed test for various providers in US last year and this year too.The average speed there is a way above 1mbps.But in India I have seen a fewpeoplereporting the speed in the same range I have described above.

Overall I have a good review for BSNL 3G speed.I have enjoyed it.What about you? Please share your experiences.

hi, speed is good
bsnl 3g user ..i am also bsnl 3g user using as data card.. i found one issue of bsnl 3g using in my laptop..i need ur mail to conform this issue..the problem is after connecting net continue for 1 and half hour to 2 hr ..after that download speed get 000 and you will not able to open a single web page..and again we have to disconnect the net and connect it to get the speed ..did any one notice this,,if yes or no ..try it once and let me know my email id is robinopt.007@gmail.com. and pls give a complain about this to bsnl office

Nice review done with great screen shot, but all people are lucky like the person reviewed, I as a BSNL 3G user has a very bad experiance, for the last onr and half year I am with BSNL and to my fate I have never seen speed more than 30 to 40 KBPS and some time worst than than onr of my friend using claims me that he always gets more than 1Mbps speed, but I can’t trust him as he was never able to make me show any screen shots where as I have always shared. The funny fact is that I even went to the bsnl office Shared them tge fact with all sort of screen shot but those people were of no help. Last J ahve to choose Reliance as 3G service provider I ahve wasted a lot of money on BSNL to get proper 3G service, BSNL IS BY DEFAULT THE CHAEPEST SERVICE PROVIDER FOR 3G BUT THE COVERAGE IN CITY IS VERY POOR AND SPEED IS MORE POOR THAN ANY GPRS SERVICE PROVIDER, FOR KOLKATA IF U ALL REALLY WANT TO HAVE 3G EXPERIANCE GO FOR RELIANCE U WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

i m from jharkhand jamshedpur, For testing purpose i tried with Rs 10 that data i gated 20Mb. that time its working very fine i goted the speed 1.5 Mbps. then again i m using normal GPRs pack in that time i gated the message for Rs 100 250Mb plan is their for 1 month. this plan i took after finish of GPRS pack. but now i m not gated 1.5 Mbps speed i m getting only normal Gprs speed 100Kbps. any one know whats the reason?

HELLO, FRIENDS, I AM FROM ASANSOL WEST BENGAL. I HAVE TESTED 3G SPEED UNDER DIFFERENT SERVICE PROVIDER. AND FOUND THAT IN MY LOCALITY AIRCEL 3G IS BEST, UPOAD SPEED ABOVE .99 mbps AND DOWN LOAD SPEED 1.5 mbps ( BY USING speedtest.net, WITH MY MMX 352G USB 3G MODEM ). AT THE TIME OF DOWN LOADING MP3 FILES FROM songs.pk AIRCEL 3G GIVES MORE THAN 250 kbps SPEED, AIRTEL 3G GIVES NEAR ABOUT 130 kbps SPEED, RELIANCE 3G GIVES 100 kbps SPEED AND BSNL 3G GIVES 150 kbps SPEED. BUT UPLOAD SPEED IS WORST ON BSNL 3G ( NEAR ABOUT 50 kbps). IHAVE NOT TESTED VODAFONE.